you know, everyone who rides fixed no brakes on the road always mentions the "wear a thick glove, and just grab the front wheel" method of braking, but i have never, ever, ever, met anyone whos actually done it.
perhaps because the end result is likely to be just as bad, or worse, than what youre trying to brake to avoid.
see, theres 2 options...
1. you put your hand in back of the fork crown, and press down. i think its obvious what runs the risk of happening here - hand or glove pinched between tire and fork crown, severe lacerations, and over the bars you go.
2. you put your hand in front of the fork crown, and press down. now, a coworker of mine tried this with his foot, when his chain came off one time, and his foot got grabbed, spun around in front of the wheel, caught in the spokes, and ended up trapped behind the forks, which totalled his forks, and cracked the down tube of his nice (non-retro) cinelli track frame. oh yeah, and totalled the wheel, smashed his helmet, and bloodied his face. now, if that happens while using your hand, youre just gonna smack your face right into the pavement.
you still have the option of using your foot on the rear wheel, but i would not recommend jamming it between the tire and the seat tube - another recipe for disaster there, as your foot can get stuck.
if youre going to ride fixed no brakes, and you cant just slow your pedalling down, and you cant lock up your rear wheel to skid, the only place to apply pressure is with your foot on top of the rear tire, just behind the seatstays. you can get decent leverage this way, and theres little fear of things getting sucked under the seatstay bridge or jammed in any other way...
ive used this last method, and it works, somewhat. i mean, obviously, youre not going to get quick reaction time, or anything really useful in an emergency braking situation, but it *will* slow you if youve thrown your chain or something.
i just always hear the "wear a glove" braking idea from all my fixed no brakes friends, and i think of it as an urban legend or old wives tale at this point...
-joe
>I am new to the list, but enjoyed the talk about riding with old
>brakes. My ride is a fixed. The old guy down the street has a
>Drysdale that he rode to the New York city championship in 1940. His
>and my bikes don't have brakes. The answer is to wear a big glove
>and grab the front wheel to stop. You can also jam your foot between
>the rear wheel and seat tube. However, I have never done this. I
>have always found that turning away from dange is much better than
>stopping in front of it.
>
>I currently have 2 oldsters. A Paramount (? ) and a converted fixed
>Olmo. My wife has an Indian Princess that has 2 rear wheels. one
>fixed and the other a free wheel. She normally rides with the free
>wheel. The Princess and the Olmo have brakes.
>
>If anyone has direct knowledge of what the old Paramount looked
>like, perhaps you could check out this page to see what it is.
>
>http://home.earthlink.net/~wm.patterson/_wsn/page2.html
>
>THanks.
>--
>Bill "Pop Pop" Patterson
>Retired and riding my Linear,
>my front drive low racer
>and our M5 tandem.
>
>See some Bikes At:
>
>http://home.earthlink.net/~wm.patterson/index.html
>
>Reply to wm.patterson@earthlink.net
>
>_______________________________________________
--
joel metz : magpie@messengers.org : http://www.blackbirdsf.org/
bike messengers worldwide : ifbma : http://www.messengers.org/
po box 191443 san francisco ca 94119-1443 usa
==
i know what innocence looks like - and it wasn't there,
after she got that bicycle...